


Everything's Comin' Up Aces

by Nerdyguy818



Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Past Relationship(s), References to Depression, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-09
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-06-07 23:00:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15229860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nerdyguy818/pseuds/Nerdyguy818
Summary: Recovering from an eventful year of strife, Newt Isaacs begins his 3rd year at Glade University with the hopes of keeping his head down and getting an internship somewhere abroad where he can finally escape the pressure of living a lie...That is, until he meets a certain brown-haired and doe-eyed boy who shows him that, maybe, he doesn't need to look so far to find the happiness he deserves.Unfortunately, for Newt, happiness never came without a struggle.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome! This is honest to God my first fic ever, and it is honestly kind of terrifying lol, but I have had this idea in my head for a while now and figured maybe it is time to write it down and post it. It's un-beta'd, and posted from my phone, but hopefully there's not too many mistakes!
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy! More author's notes at the bottom.

Newt had never really understood the point of the orientation pep rally. Sure, the tour made sense, but all this nonsense with the clubs seemed pointless. Here he was sitting in an auditorium with a group of freshman, watching their mascot make a fool of himself by juggling while standing on one leg. Apparently he was demonstrating for the juggling club.

 

He’d already performed 15 other incredibly silly things for 15 other clubs.

 

While the rest of the audience seemed enthralled, Newt really wished he could just leave, get back to his room, finish unpacking, and take a well deserved nap. 

But someone, Teresa, had thought it would be fun if they signed up to be group leaders for all the freshman this year.  Newt, Minho, and Brenda had all enthusiastically expressed how thoroughly they hated that idea, and yet here they all were, waiting to be dismissed so they could round up their freshman and give them a tour of the campus. 

 

“How did we all get roped in to this again?” Minho asked. He leaned forward in his seat and looked exasperatedly at his friends.

“Because no one ever wins an argument against Teresa,” Newt sighed and leaned back into the bench behind him, looking at the shirt he is currently wearing that says something like ‘Don’t get played, get Glade!’ he huffed and muttered under his breath, “Her and her stupid bloody logic.” 

“Hey!” Teresa exclaimed, cuffing Minho in the head, “It’s not like I’m forcing you guys! I just thought you would all like the fact that,  _ besides _ the fact we are building great leadership skills, this looks great on our résumés!” She flipped her hair and then added, “Now shush, they’re almost done.” 

 

Newt looked back towards the stage, where it did seem like the speaker was getting ready to dismiss them. He looked over into the crowd and caught sight of his sister, Sonya. She, it seems, had been looking around and caught his eye as well. He threw her a thumbs up, which she reciprocated, and smiled slightly to himself. ‘At least Sonya is in my group of freshman. It’ll be nice having her here this year.’ He thought, but was pushed out of his thoughts when a sudden applause struck his ears. 

 

“Now we will be letting you all meet with your assigned group leaders for a tour of the campus! You should have received which group you are in with your packets, so just make your way to them. We hope you all have an amazing next four years learning, making new friends, and enjoying all that Glade U has to offer!” The speaker finished. Newt got up and followed the rest of his friends to the lobby outside the auditorium, they said their farewells and then held up the signs with letters they had all been given. 

 

“Group A! This way!” Teresa shouted, startling Newt. He prayed for her group. When she got into her boss mode, there was no room for nonsense. He looked at his sign and sighed. He saw Sonya approaching him and thought, ‘Might as well get this started.’

 

“Group B! Over here!” He shouted, holding his sign up. Hearing his other friends calling their groups as well. Slowly a group of students with little name stickers on their shirts grouped around him, he smiled at Sonya as she planted herself closest to him with a friend, her name tag read “Harriet”, coming right up next to her. Newt calmed his nerves and tried to give off an air of authority.

“It’s nice to meet all of ya, I hope you are enjoying your first day here at Glade U!” Newt says with a smile, “My name is Newt Isaacs, and I will be your tour guide for the day!” He paused and looked around at everyone and added, “ If you all have any questions during the tour let me know. I remember my first day here at Glade, and it can all be a little scary, so don’t worry about buggin’ me, I’m more than happy to help.” Immediately a hand in the back rose, Newt chuckled, “Yes?”

 

“Are you British?” The girl in the back asked with what appeared to be uncontained glee. The group of girls around her started squealed. Newt laughed and was about to answer but his sister took this moment to make her presence known.

 

“My brother and I both are!” Sonya announced, putting an arm around Newt. “And he’s single!” She added, wiggling her eyebrow. The squealing girls got louder. 

“That’s quite enough of that,” Newt laughed, mock shoving Sonya’s arm off, “As my sister so eloquently put it, I am British,” He chuckled again then added, “but my relationship status is none of your business.” The girls all collectively gave a cry of disappointment. He smirked, then looked around and noticed they were the last group to have left, and figured he should get a move on or he wouldn’t hear the end of it from Teresa. He started moving towards the exit and felt the familiar prickle in his leg. He prayed his limp wasn’t too noticeable, he doesn’t think he’d be able to handle any more personal questions.

 

“Now if you guys will follow me, we’ll get this tour on the road.”

 

\----

 

Newt had just finished a majority of the tour and left the girls, including his sister, at the girls’ dormitory building, all he had left to do was take the boys to their dormitory building and he could finally get back to his room. He was glad he at least got rid of his fanclub. He shivered and was starting to think about what he was going to do after he finished packing, when a boy with brown hair and amber eyes came up to him.

 

“Popular with the ladies, eh?” The boy chuckled and bumped his shoulder against Newt’s then proceeded to fistbump him. Newt was having a hard time coming up with an answer, and the boy seemed to notice this.“I’m just joshing you dude. I could tell they were making you uncomfortable.” He laughed, and then stuck his hand out, “Name’s Thomas by the way.” Newt took his hand and shook it. 

 

“Pleased to meet you!” Newt smiled. He then took notice that his group had primarily been girls, there were only four boys following Newt, excluding Thomas, but he saw Minho in the distance making his way towards him. ‘Well he got settled fast.’ Newt thought.

 

“Hey Newt!” Minho put an arm around his shoulder, “Boy do I have something I need to talk to you about!” And he started leading Newt away. 

 

“Minho! You bloody Shank! I’m kind of busy here!” Newt struggled against him and then gestured to the group of boys. 

 

“Oh! Pfft, I’m sure they can find their way to the dorm.” Minho assured waving his arm in the air in a careless gesture and then tugged Newt along. “Come on, it’s important!” Newt struggled again, but eventual gave up, there was no stopping Minho was this determined, but he didn’t want to just up and leave his freshmen. 

 

Thomas seemed to notice his hesitance and offered, “Hey, I can lead these guys to the dorm. I know the way. No worries.” He then waved Newt off as he got dragged away by Minho.

“Thanks Thomas!” 

“Don’t mention it!” 

Newt finally turned around and looked at Minho then asked, “Where you draggin’ me off to anyways? Why can’t we just talk here?” 

“We’re going to the girls’ dorm so you can introduce me to your cute sister!” Minho said with a wink. Newt blinked. Blinked again. Then stopped in his tracks and smacked Minho in the back of the head.

“Why was that so bloody important that you quite literally had to drag me away from my group?!” Newt barked, shaking his head slightly, then added exasperatedly “And I most definitely do not need your influence rubbin’ off on her!” He then started walking back towards the boys’ dorm. 

“No wait, please Newt!” Minho exclaimed, “ I don’t want to meet her for the reasons I implied, I honestly just want to meet her because I know how important she is to you. We all do.” Minho hung his head as he added, “I was going to invite you both to a sort of ‘Welcome back’ party I heard one of the Frats was hosting. I asked everyone else and they thought it was a great idea. That way we could have some fun and unwind, but also, so we could all meet and get to know Sonya.” Newt looked at him and smiled, touched that Minho and his friends wanted to get to know his sister better. 

“Sure Min, but I’m sure Son is busy unpacking right now,” Newt said, but noticing the disappointed look on Minho’s face added, “I’ll send her a text after I finish unpacking though and will let ya know, good that?” 

“Good that!” Minho exclaimed, and then threw a fist in the air, “We are going to have so much fun!”

\---

Newt had just finished putting everything in his room away, and had received a text back from Sonya saying she would love to come to the party, when he had decided to lounge on one of the couches in the commons area to relax and take some time to think about his day. 

 

So far this year had already started out so much better than last year. Sure, he had been apprehensive about joining the orientation committee, but it had actually turned out to be kind of fun. He got to hang out with his sister and meet some cool new people, well, one new person. He laughed thinking of the boy, but then his thoughts turned more somber. 

 

So far he hadn’t ran into any of his ‘friends’ from last year. And all of his friends now seemed to really care about him. He almost felt like he could even trust them with his ‘secret’. Almost. He was getting ahead of himself. The point being that things were looking up, but that didn’t mean he might not run into any of ‘them’ at this party though. Maybe he should text Minho and cancel. He would understand, he had heard about what had happened last year. Besides, this year wasn’t supposed to be about having fun. It was all about studying and getting an internship abroad so he could finally leave this place and their narrow views. 

 

So he could finally be free. 

 

He made up his mind and was just about to text Minho when suddenly something heavy had landed on his chest. 

 

“Oh crap! I’m so sorry!” a voice above Newt exclaimed. He knew that voice. Looking up he saw the boy from his freshman group, Thomas. He had apparently not seen Newt and decided to take a seat. He looked sincerely apologetic though. 

 

“It’s no problem mate,” Newt coughed out, sitting up then chuckling added, “It’s more my fault for taking up the entire couch.” 

 

Thomas laughed then said, “You’ve got a point there.” He then cocked his head to the side and asked, “What has you cooped up in here? Did you leave our group behind just to come in here and nap? Not that I mind,” Thomas laughed then continued, “I just figured you’d be out with friends or something.” Newt laughed then felt guilty.

 

“Sorry about that by the way, my friend was really insistent that I leave just so he could ask if I wanted to go to a party tonight.” Newt explained sheepishly. Thomas seemed to perk up at that.

 

“You’re going to that? Awesome!” Thomas exclaimed, not letting Newt answer, then pumped the air, it reminded Newt a lot of Minho, ‘They would probably get along pretty well.’ Newt thought, Thomas continued though, “I thought I wouldn’t really know anyone going, but since you are going I’ll at least know two people going, and if Sonya comes that’s three!” Newt went to interrupt, to let Thomas know he would not in fact be going, but got confused as to who the third person was, went to voice his confusion, but Thomas continued, “I’m going to go finish unpacking then get ready, I’ll see you there!” Then he ran off leaving a rather confused Newt with his mouth half open. Newt recomposed himself and sighed.

 

“Well I guess I’m going to a party tonight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Newt just wants a nap, but Thomas is irresistable lol. Hope you all enjoyed the first chapter! Let me know what you thought!
> 
> I'm going to be trying to update this bi weekly, but might be sooner or later depending on my schedule.
> 
> Come back next- oh wait, I finished the next chapter already, so no need to wait :P


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt goes to the party and learns a few new things.

Newt checked himself in the mirror for the fifth time in the last ten minutes and sighed. He didn’t know why he was doing this in the first place. He didn’t even really want to go to this party, but he figured if he backed out now, all of his friends would be pretty disappointed. ‘Not to mention Thomas is really happy you are going.’ Newt thought. Then kicked himself. He’d just met this boy, and yet Newt already cared about Thomas’ opinion of him.

 

‘You’re an idiot, you know that, right? This has never, and will never end the way you think. Just give it up and go have fun with your friends and sister before you lose them too.’ Newt cut off his train of thought before it took a darker turn. ‘You only have to go for a couple hours then you can leave and start studying. It will be fine.’ He decided that what he was wearing, a black button-down with brown slacks, was fine. He grabbed his phone off the sink, looked at the time and saw he was going to be late. He fixed his hair and rushed out, ignoring his limp.  

\---

 

    The party was in full-swing by the time Newt had arrived. Brenda was the first to see him.

 

“Took you long enough!” Brenda said, looking absolutely ecstatic to see him, then giving him a once over, “Looking good dude!” Newt blushed, he didn’t think what he was wearing was all that special nor did he deserve the praise, he thought looked like he’d just dragged himself out of a nap, which wasn’t far from the truth.

 

“Thanks Bren, ‘preciate it.” Newt says, looking sheepish. He then looked her over and noticed Teresa and Frypan coming over. “You guys all look aces too!” Brenda smiled at him then made a dramatic pose. Everyone laughed. She snapped out of it and came closer to Newt.

 

“Anyways, now that you are here we can finally get this party started!” Brenda took Newt’s arm and dragged him further in. “Come on, Minho is waiting for ya!” He bumped into several people on the way and mumbled apologies the entire way. Teresa laughing as she watched. Newt noticed her and Frypan were headed towards the dance floor where his sister was already dancing with her friend Harriet. He briefly caught a glance of them laughing at something Frypan said before he was separated from them by the wall to the kitchen. Waiting for him with a cheshire grin and his arms crossed was Minho.

 

“Thomas told me he caught you napping, but I didn’t think you would be sleeping all afternoon!” Minho says, waving his arms all over the place and reminding Newt of a flailing chicken, Newt tried not to chuckle. Brenda laughed then headed back towards the party, Minho seemed to notice Newt chuckling and punched him in the shoulder, “Seriously dude! I had half a mind to come up to your room and drag your butt here, bedhead and all.” He added that last part while ruffling Newt’s untamable hair, “Not that it would have made much of a difference.” Newt was about to interject when he remembered Minho had mention Thomas.

 

“Wait, Thomas told you? How do you know Thomas?” Newt asked Minho with a curious look. The boy wasn’t someone significant it didn’t seem like, and he was a freshman, right? He wasn’t in Minho’s group, how would he have had time to meet him? Not that Newt needed to know everything about the boy, he was just curious. If Minho did know him maybe he could tell Newt more about him.

 

Minho seemed to notice Newt’s curiosity and gave him a knowing look. A look Newt didn’t even want to get into right now, ‘There’s no way Minho knows, right?’ While Newt seemed to be having a mini panic attack, Minho decided to take mercy on him.

 

“I met him around the end of last year.” Minho answered. Newt looked even more confused if it was possible, but Minho noticed and continued, “He’s a junior like us, but he transferred here really late last year and wasn’t given a tour or anything and kept getting lost so I think his counselor took pity on him and got him into freshman orientation with the other Greenies.”

 

‘So he’s in our year. I wonder why I never saw him last year?’ Newt thought.

 

“He’s on the track team, which is where I met him, but besides that he wasn’t in any of our classes.” Minho answered the question Newt hadn’t voiced. Newt sweared he could read his mind, and it was starting to get weird. He’d have to get better at hiding his emotions. “I kept in touch with him, though, over the summer. He seems like a cool guy! Just seems like he enjoys doing his own thing, kind of a lone wolf type. Otherwise I think he’d make a great addition to the group!” Minho finished.

 

‘That doesn’t sound like the same Thomas I met, he seemed really eager to be friends.’ Newt thought, but decided he’d figure it out later, here he was at a party and wasn’t partying. “Well he said he’d be here at some point, so we’ll have to introduce him to the rest of the group.” Newt finished, he then looked at Minho and smirked, “But first I need to kick your butt at a dance off, even with my limp!” He winked at Minho and headed off towards the dance floor.

 

“Like you could even do that before!” Minho pushed him and they both met the rest of the group who cheered at seeing them.

\---

 

    Newt was currently lounging on an armchair in the corner of the room watching his friends dance and have a good time. His leg had started acting up so he figured he was probably done dancing for the night. It was good to see his friends and his sister having such a good time though. He was glad they had pretty much just accepted her as one of their own.

 

As if they were one big family.

 

The thought gave Newt a warm feeling. He was so happy he had finally found people he was close and comfortable enough with to call that. Not that he didn't have an actual family, his mum may be gone, but he had his sister and his father. He loved his sister; she was the closest person to him, closer than any person he would probably ever meet. He could trust her with anything.

 

His father was another story entirely. He would probably never really think of his father as family...

 

His friends were different though. They understood him, they accepted him, and they made him feel wanted. 'Maybe it's about time I tell them.' Newt thought, smiling at his friends and waving as Sonya noticed him staring, she waved back. 'They might be shocked, but they'd understand.'

 

"What has you smiling all dreamy-like?" Newt was brought out of his thoughts by Thomas' question and startled in his chair.

 

"When did you get here?" Newt looked up at Thomas and blushed,  he was wearing a deep red t-shirt with black jeans, they looked great on him if Newt were to add his two cents, but he really wasn't about to even think that, much less say it outloud. He could totally not care less what Thomas was wearing, thank you very much... or at least that's what he told himself anyways.

 

"Only a few minutes ago actually, had to stay home with my brother til my ma got back from work." Thomas explained then took the seat next to Newt, only then did he notice that Thomas had two beers in his hands. "Beer?" Thomas asked, stretching his arm out towards Newt.

 

"Nah, I don't drink. Sorry mate." Newt apologized. He had been dreading having to explain why he wasn't drinking to anyone who noticed. He knew coming to a party, it was to be expected, but he just couldn't not after what had happened last time. Newt had been about to start his explanation when Thomas cut him off.

 

"No worries man, I understand. Don't gotta explain yourself." Thomas smiled as he spoke. "Just do you. Don't let anyone else make ya feel bad or pressured." He put a hand on Newt's shoulder and Newt could honestly feel his heart skip for a second, and it probably would have completely stopped had Thomas not removed his hand and taken a swig of his drink. "More for me anyways." He said laughing. Newt joined in with his own laugh.

 

"Thanks a ton Tommy!" Newt said joyfully, not realising the nickname had slipped, "Means a lot."

 

"Tommy, eh?" Thomas asked with a smirk, Newt realised his mistake and went to apologize, but Thomas cut him off (again), "I kinda like it. Makes me sound less like I'm some scientist or businessman."

 

Newt laughed. "So I take it you aren't majoring in Science or Business?"

 

"Oh hell no!" Thomas barked through his laughter, "You would have to kill me before I'd agree to do something that boring." Newt could agree, Thomas didn't look the type to be that serious about anything. Nor did he look like he could sit down for that long. "I'm actually studying Commercial Music." Thomas says, "My dream is to become a musician/songwriter," Thomas' eyes lit up as he spoke. Newt could tell he was really passionate about his music, and hoped he would be lucky enough to hear him play one day. Thomas had kind of deflated as he spoke next, "but I kind of suck at the songwriting part, so I might just try to get an internship with a record label and hope I can work my way up to a producer."

 

Newt frowned for a second, but composed himself quickly and smiled as he said, "I want to hear you someday." Thomas smiled at this, looking genuinely happy that someone else wanted to hear him. It made Newt's heart rise again, he continued though, "And I'm sure with enough work you can get better at the songwriting part, you just need the right inspiration."

 

"Maybe you're right."

\--

    Newt laid in bed that night and thought back on his day. It had been fun actually, from orientation to the party. A perfect day practically. He had finally been able to introduce his sister to his friends, and they had really hit it off. He thought back to the party and the looks on his friends’ faces as they laughed at one of Sonya’s impressions of him. She fit right in. They had accepted her almost instantaneously it seemed.

 

Newt felt a pang of jealousy at that moment.

 

‘I don’t remember being accepted into the group that easily.’ Newt thought. He then shook his head and cleared his thoughts, berating himself, ‘It doesn’t matter, even if that is true, they care about me now, and I shouldn’t dwell on these things.’ Newt thought and then smiled, ‘I am really happy they accepted her though.’ And even though he knew they got on pretty well because his sister had an amazing personality, he also knew that they put in the effort because she is his sister. It made him happy to think that, even if she wasn’t as awesome of a person as she is, they would have accepted her anyways, just for him. Newt now turned his thoughts now on the rest of the party.

 

Or should he say, Thomas.

 

Though they hadn’t been able to talk for long, talking to Thomas had come naturally to Newt. Almost as easy as breathing. He’d never met someone he could share stories, laughs, and even just shoot the breeze with after only knowing them for just a few hours. Even Minho had taken a few weeks to break through Newt’s shell. But that half an hour with Thomas had been a highlight of the night. Newt hadn’t shared a whole lot about himself, mainly just talked about some of his art projects, some antics him and his friends had been up to, and how excited he was to have his sister with him this year. Thomas on the other hand, had answered every question Newt had.

 

Well almost. He didn’t seem to want to talk about his dad, but Newt so far knew the following about Thomas:

 

  1. Thomas’ mum, Mary, and his brother, Chuck, lived near campus, so Thomas got to see them often.
  2. Thomas could sing, though he said he doesn’t like his own voice, so his singing ability was to be determined as far as Newt was concerned, but he could also play piano and guitar. Newt _really_ wanted to hear him someday.
  3. Thomas had applied at a radio station nearby, he had said it was to make a little extra money with the hopes of maybe meeting someone who could get him an in at a record company. Newt figured that Thomas secretly hoped he could maybe get some of his songs, if he could finish writing them, on the air. The thought made Newt smile.
  4. Thomas didn’t usually stay out super late.
  5. Thomas was incredibly smart. Like genius-level smart. But he didn’t seem to like showing it, and didn’t think he was himself. Newt on the other hand figured that if the music business didn’t work out for him, he could probably do anything else he set his mind on.
  6. ...Thomas was incredibly attractive and had a thing for unnecessary physical contact. Newt had lost count of how many times Thomas had pushed him, put his hand on his shoulder, and put his arm around him. It confused Newt to no end. Not to mention made him super uncomfortable, but extremely comfortable all at the same time. Newt decided to just not think about it.



 

Newt smiled as he thought of the boy. He had mysteriously left before Newt could get his number, let alone introduce him to his friends (excluding Minho of course since he already knew him) but Newt wasn’t too bummed about that. He knew he would get another chance to introduce his friends to the funny, smart, and enthusiastic boy.

 

After all, they were in the same year, they’d meet again eventually.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Again, let me know what you thought! I realize the spacing might be off, and I will try to tinker with that when I get home to my laptop. 
> 
> What do you guys think of the length of the chapters? Longer or shorter? 
> 
> I'm also hoping I'm not making everyone too OOC xD This is honestly my first time ever really writing any kind of story so, feedback would be amazing! Thanks everyone!


End file.
